People
Dallas-based BenefitMall, a provider of employee benefits, human resources and payroll products and services, has reappointed Michael Gomes as executive vice president, Benefits Sales Division.
Gomes will be responsible for all benefits sales and services, including group, self-funded, senior and individual in offices located in 11 states serving 32 markets.
Gomes joined BenefitMall as one of its founding executives in 1999 and served in a variety of leadership capacities. For most of his tenure, Gomes was benefitmall’s executive vice president of Sales and Market Operations.
After an 18-month sabbatical, Gomes rejoined BenefitMall in 2017.
Texas-based insurance, risk management and employee benefits agency, Higginbotham, has hired commercial property and casualty insurance broker Kyle J. Schielack as a vice president in Houston.
He brings eight years’ experience managing risk and insurance for commercial real estate and development, multi-family, manufacturing and distribution companies in Houston and the Gulf Coast region.
Schielack was most recently a vice president at a private insurance agency in Houston where he achieved record revenue growth. He is a licensed Certified Insurance Counselor and Certified Risk Manager.
Higginbotham operates two offices in Houston.
The firm was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, with 26 additional offices statewide serving domestic and international customers.
Austin, Texas-based agency partnership, Combined Agents of America (CAA), has added Nikki Toon as production director.
Toon has more than a decade of experience working in the insurance industry from a carrier, agency and group perspective.
As production director, Toon will develop and manage CAA member needs and facilitate a formal, organized sales/growth culture within the group. In addition to providing vision and strategic planning functions for value-added services and programs within the CAA group, Toon will assist in creating strategies for carrier accountability and enhanced carrier relationships.
Founded in 1997, Combined Agents of America LLC (CAA) has 55 independent insurance agency members located throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska.
Dallas-based wholesale insurance broker Towerstone Inc. promoted George Schneller to executive vice president, a newly created position, and hired Joy Keller as vice president and director of small commercial.
Schneller joined Towerstone in 2007 and advanced quickly in the company from claims, client service roles and production to his current role of executive vice president. Prior to joining Towerstone, Schneller practiced at a litigation firm in Dallas, where he handled a diverse range of cases in the areas of contract law, construction law and commercial litigation. In his current role, he will oversee the second newly created position responsible for small commercial services.
Keller comes to Towerstone with more than 25 years of insurance and financial services experience. Previous positions include executive vice president of a Texas wholesale division, corporate CFO and CPA for a national accounting firm overseeing financial services companies. In her most recent MGA role, she was responsible for more than 30 individual surplus lines contracts and was projected to place more than $4 million in annual premium with her preferred carrier partners.
Headquartered in Dallas, Towerstone employs more than 50 associates and has additional offices in San Antonio, Birmingham, Ala., and Michigan.
Fidelis Group Holdings LLC (FGH), with its subsidiary Continental Underwriters Ltd., hired Dennis Mathies as a senior marine underwriter based in Houston.
Mathies will be responsible for expanding the group’s brown water hull, liabilities and cargo product lines.
Mathies has more than 45 years of experience in the marine industry, most recently as zone manager vice president of Starr Marine. Before joining Starr, he was with Reliance National and MOAC, respectively.
Headquartered in Covington, Louisiana, Fidelis Group Holdings LLC provides primary, excess, ocean cargo, and inland marine insurance for hull and maritime liability coverages (P&I). FGH provides underwriting, broker services, claims management and loss control assistance for its maritime clients.
The company’s subsidiary, Continental Underwriters Ltd., also represents a number of highly rated marine insurers.